Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa credits a bat sensor that measures his swing as a key part of his and the team’s success.

Three months ago, Houston Astros All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa flat out told me he was going to have a breakout season and tech was going to play a big role.

I was expecting an endorsement pitch during a quick call about how he uses Blast Motion, a baseball bat sensor designed to help everyone from little leaguers to middle-aged softball players improve their swings. Our chat happened a week after Correa set the tone for his season, crushing a 450-foot home run on opening night.

But rather than offer a canned line, Correa lowered his voice and in hushed tones told me how he and his team really use the sensor. As many as four times a week, Correa attaches it to the end of his 33.5-ounce bat to measure his swing speed and impact. He says using the sensor during extended batting practice sessions before home games is particularly important.

"Listen, baseball is a game of feeling and constant adjustments,"

the 22-year-old said. "And sometimes your swing may be a little off at times. [Blast Motion is] definitely helping me because every at-bat counts and I can't afford to waste any of them."

Correa's certainly not wasting them.

This is a career year for the shortstop, who on Tuesday will be appearing in his first All-Star Game in Miami. His Astros, with 60 wins in 89 games, hold Major League Baseball's second-best record. And the success comes as baseball, America's national pastime, is diving head-first into next-gen tech with players embracing sensors and other wearable tech to track their performance.

"Today's athletes are geared to get as much information as possible on their performance," he said. "Baseball is similar to golf where players have almost immediate access to analyze their swings and at times make very small changes which could have substantial impact on the field."

"Again and again, my students tell me that they made a certain decision to “keep their options open.” That millennials like to keep options open is borne out by the data: only one in four (26%) millennials are married, nearly one-third (29%) are not affiliated with a particular religion, and half (50%) consider themselves political independents.

So what gives? From an economist’s perspective, millennials seem to measure decisions by what we call “option value.” In economics, if a decision like the purchase of an asset has a high option value, it means that there is a significant probability of a very good outcome. However, in the case that things don’t go as well as hoped for, it is easy to break ties and cut losses. Of course, this is only possible in a world of limited commitment. If one needs to be committed to something even when things don’t turn out as well as hoped, then the option value is lower."

"San Francisco clothier Levi's and search engine giant Google will begin selling a new form of electronic gear this week: a denim jacket for bicyclists that can make it easier to receive texts and phone calls. The $350 product looks and feels like a denim jacket, but the wearer can snap an electronic tag on the cuff that uses Bluetooth technology to connect with a user's smartphone, which must be nearby. After programming an app, someone wearing the jacket could swipe upward on their left arm to play music or switch tracks - actions much easier for cyclists than fiddling with a phone. The rider could also instruct the phone, with a double tap or swipe of the jacket, to tell the time aloud."

"Inclusion of the sacrifices of Filipino veterans in World War II in Grade 11 history books finally will be implemented in the San Francisco Bay Area this semester.

This was gathered from Cecilia Gaerlan, Bataan Legacy Historical Society (BLHS) executive director, who is among the leading supporters of Filipino World War II veterans, which includes having their contributions to the Allied efforts in World War II be made known high school history textbooks not just in California, but also in all of the United States."

...

"In an interview at the recent Third Conference on World War II in the Philippines at the University of San Francisco’s McLaren Conference Center, attended by people from all over California and even from other states, Gaerlan explained that much more has to be done."

"Every year between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7, Medicare beneficiaries face what for many can be a daunting task — re-enrolling in annual prescription drug coverage known as Part D that not only covers their specific medications but does so at the lowest premium cost available.

It is of critical importance to those on fixed incomes and it can be confusing sorting through the more than two dozen plans available to San Joaquin County residents.

For the past decade, student pharmacists trained in the enrollment process through a program at University of the Pacific’s Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences have been assisting seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries, as well as those enrolling for the first time, by offering health fairs. And all of their services are free."

"If President Trump spoke with Paul Manafort while his former campaign manager was being wiretapped, experts say there's no quick legal route to disclose the existence or content of intercepted calls.

Public disclosure isn't guaranteed because two reported wiretap orders targeting Manafort were issued under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, rather than via the ordinary criminal wiretap statute."

A truck filled with goods and supplies for survivors of Hurricane Harvey is leaving San Francisco for Houston Wednesday evening, and according to coordinator Bobby Basra, there's still room for donations.

"On Sept. 5, the federal administration moved to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, a policy that temporarily protects qualifying young people brought to the United States without documentation from removal proceedings."

...

“They don’t feel comfortable living the normal life they can live in America,” said Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, director of the ALAS grassroots cultural arts program in Half Moon Bay and a University of San Francisco Psychology and Counseling Department professor who specializes in Latino mental health."

Hurricane Harvey posed a difficult challenge for the operators of the Arkema Group chemical plant just outside Houston. The flooding had cut off the power supply, meaning chemicals could not be stored at the appropriate temperatures. And then, when even the backup generators failed, the site erupted in flames with two explosions Thursday, exposing the area to noxious fumes.

The explosion is not expected to have any long-term environmental impact, officials said, but the episode is just a taste of the environmental toll Harvey could leave on the region. Any mass flooding event brings with it public health concerns about the spread of contaminants through the water, but Houston's industrial sector — heavy on oil, gas and chemicals — has experts particularly worried that extreme flooding has created conditions that could lead to environmental disaster.

"Houston has over 500 industrial sites and in every home we've got some mix of solvents pesticides, oil," Barbara Sattler , a professor of public health at the University of San Francisco, told reporters on a conference call. "Those are all part of this huge contamination pond that is Houston."

“It really makes a lot of sense because quinceañeras in the U.S. have always been about families and communities making a statement,” said Evelyn I. Rodriguez, associate professor with the University of San Francisco’s Department of Sociology, who researched and wrote Celebrating Debutantes and Quinceañeras: Coming of Age in American Ethnic Communities."

...

“It’s a statement of cultural pride and asserting a sense of belonging in the United States while honoring a parents’ home culture and really digging your heels into U.S. culture,” Rodriguez said."

President Trump has lost nearly every round of the court cases challenging his ban on U.S. entry from selected nations with overwhelmingly Muslim populations. But on Monday he may have won the battle, or taken a big step toward winning it, by running out the clock.

A day after Trump issued a new order indefinitely restricting travel from eight countries — replacing the six-nation, 90-day ban that expired Sunday — the Supreme Court canceled its Oct. 10 hearing on the legality of the last order and asked for brief written arguments by Oct. 5 on whether the case is now moot.

...

Bill Hing, an immigration law professor at the University of San Francisco, said the Supreme Court was partly responsible for the uncertainty surrounding the case.

“This has always been a moving target, given the White House’s fits and starts,” he said. In view of the earlier order’s expiration date, he said, the Supreme Court “should have heard it sooner, and now there’s going to be a tough challenge for the plaintiffs to get the court to rule.”

San Francisco's epidemic of car burglaries may be spreading even faster than the already alarming 28 percent increase reported by police this year. Statistics obtained from the city's 911 center show it received 25,031 calls about auto break-ins during the first six months of 2017 - 7,061 more than the 17,970 reported by police."

...

"Tony Ribera, a former San Francisco police chief who now teaches criminal justice at the University of San Francisco, said cops tell him auto break-ins are often done by petty criminals working in teams. With auto burglary classified as a nonviolent crime, and citations issued for possession of stolen goods worth less than $950, those arrested often roll in and out of the court system."

There are safe spaces, and then there are entire segregated social spheres. The first are places where members of a marginalized group can come together in the midst of busy lives to talk together openly, and the second are more like a way of life. One might be a community center on a campus that LGBT students can drop into for a support group, and the other looks more like, say, an LGBT-only dorm -- an idea that has popped up at a smattering of universities. One is a good, even necessary, idea. The other is not.

"After widespread flooding that destroyed homes and displaced thousands of people, many of those affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are now in the middle of a critical period, mental health experts say. That's because symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) typically start to appear in the weeks following a disaster."

...

"Scientists have been predicting not only these types of storms but more fires, tornadoes and typhoons — all of these extreme weather events — for some time now," Barbara Sattler, RN, a professor of public health at the University of San Francisco and board member of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, told CBS News. "This is an encroaching public health crisis." Sattler was also a first responder in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005."

In their negotiations with President Trump over the future of almost 800,000 young people who agreed to join the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program, Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer should vehemently resist entreaties to drastically reduce legal immigration. Ending "chain migration" has been a coveted goal of anti-immigrant leaders for the past 30 years. Instead of making America "greater," it would destroy family reunification as the cornerstone of our immigration policy and close the door to people who have followed rules and waited in line legally for up to 25 years.

"I don't think anybody can put much faith in the statement that there is a deal, because so much can change," said John Trasvina, dean of the University of San Francisco School of Law and an immigration expert who worked in Washington under the Clinton and Obama administrations. "I've seen tons of times when people think they have an immigration deal, and then it goes away."

Under the Trump administration plan, those already enrolled in DACA remain covered until their two-year permits expire. If their permits expire before March, 5, 2018, they can renew them for another two years as long as they apply by Oct. 5. But the program isn't accepting new applications.

The University of San Francisco, which has about 80 DACA recipients, is advising students to adhere to that deadline and is raising money to help pay the $495 renewal fee.

Despite reassurances from schools that they'll be able to continue attending classes, many students are anxious. They're worried about how they'll pay for school if they can't work.

Ana Maciel, a 23-year-old who works full time to put herself through a University of San Francisco education Master's program, says she's been on "an emotional roller coaster." She fears being deported to Mexico, the country she left at age 3, and wonders if it's smart to keep investing in school if she can't work afterward.

"Is this what I should spend my money on?" Maciel says about her $8,000 tuition. "Everything is up in the air."

Trump’s proposed agreement with congressional Democratic leaders puts the president — elected on a vow to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border — in the narrowest of political channels.

...

That made it seem like “he’s trying to have it both ways” with both his conservative base and more moderate Republicans, said University of San Francisco Law School Dean John Trasviña, who was general counsel for a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in the 1990s.

Building the wall “is one issue that drove those hopes. And he is potentially pulling the rug out from his base,” said Trasviña, a former president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. “I don’t know what one issue would make them more angry. At this point, he has pulled away from his base.”

"Despite it being balmy and clear last Sunday afternoon, Bolinas residents flooded indoors for an informational meeting and question-and-answer session with representatives from the University of San Francisco concerning the recent purchase of Star Route Farms. Though attendees were largely welcoming of the new owners, some asked that the university be sensitive to the community, including by contributing to community services, allowing students to continue crossing the property on their way to school and not adding to parking congestion."

...

"University representatives at the meeting included the provost, chief financial advisor and general counsel. Following Mr. Butler’s introduction, they presented plans for the property, assuring the audience that business would largely continue as usual."

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced that Investor Relations (IR) Manager John Campbell has been promoted to lead the IR group, effective Sept. 15. As Director of IR, Campbell succeeds Jim Rowe, who served in IR for over a decade before being promoted in July to lead the company’s new Stakeholder Relations Group.

Campbell has been with Wells Fargo and its legacy banks for more than 20 years in a variety of roles and has served as a manager in the IR group for the last seven years. He will continue to be based in San Francisco and will report to Rowe.

...

Campbell has held various positions in IR, Mortgage, Treasury, Financial Planning & Analysis, and Accounting during his two decades at Wells Fargo. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Villanova University and an MBA in Finance from the University of San Francisco.

"Ferguson said the 15-state lawsuit argued that targeting such people "shows racial animus", adding, "Sessions says DACA is illegal. That (argument) does have some appeal" and might persuade the courts, said Bill Ong Hing, an immigration law professor at the University of San Francisco."

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